New Year

🇯🇵How does Japan mark New Year?元日・お正月

Japan's new year is 1 January, the national holiday Ganjitsu, whose stated purpose in the Cabinet Office text is a single line: to celebrate the beginning of the year. In practice it is the heaviest season of the year — year-end travel home, the first shrine visit, osechi food and new-year cards all cluster into these days. Japan moved to the Gregorian calendar after the Meiji era, and the lunar new year stopped being the main festival in most regions; that is the sharpest fork between Japan and its neighbours here.

www8.cao.go.jp ↗

🇺🇸How does United States mark New Year? · New Year's Day

The United States makes 1 January a federal holiday. Its weight is on the night before: countdowns, fireworks and parties, with the day itself mostly given to rest and watching games. There is no nationally shared rite or dish; households and states decide for themselves. Compared with Thanksgiving and Christmas it reads more like a public event than a family holiday.

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usa.gov ↗

🇧🇷How does Brazil mark New Year?Réveillon / Ano-Novo

In Brazil, 1 January is a national holiday under Law 662. The weight of Réveillon is at the shore: January is high summer south of the equator, and the night commonly brings white clothing, fireworks on the beach, and practices that sit side by side — jumping seven waves, or offering flowers to the sea deity Iemanjá. The same night can be Catholic, Afro-Brazilian and entirely secular at once.

planalto.gov.br ↗

🇮🇩How does Indonesia mark New Year?Tahun Baru Masehi

Indonesia lists 1 January as the national holiday Tahun Baru Masehi. This is the landing for the query 'Indonesian New Year' when it means 1 January, not Ramadan or the Islamic new year. It is one of several new years there: the same national holiday list also carries the Islamic new year, Bali's Nyepi day of silence, and the lunar new year. A single country recognising several 'beginnings of the year' in the same calendar is most visible here among the seven markets on this site.

setneg.go.id ↗

🇨🇳How does China mark New Year?春节

In mainland China the Spring Festival gets four days off under the national holiday regulation: Lunar New Year's Eve and the first three days of the first month. The eve was added in the 2024 revision — before that it was not a statutory day off, and many people relied on shifted workdays to get home in time. The detail shows that the boundary of a festival can be rewritten by regulation: whether you can be home on the eve depends on how the rule is worded.

gov.cn ↗hko.gov.hk ↗

🇹🇼How does Taiwan mark New Year?農曆新年（春節）

Taiwan's new year sits on the first day of the first lunar month. Under the Act on Commemorative Days and Holidays, Lunar New Year's Eve and the Spring Festival are days off, and in practice they merge with the weekend into one long break. The reunion dinner on the eve, the first visits on day one, and red envelopes form the frame; each household extends it from there. 1 January is also a holiday as Founding Day, but it is not in the same weight class as the lunar year.

law.moj.gov.tw ↗hko.gov.hk ↗

🇮🇳How does India mark New Year?Ugadi / Gudi Padwa

India's national holiday list contains no 1 January. The new year here mostly falls on the first day of the bright fortnight of Chaitra in the Hindu lunisolar calendar, in March or April, and carries a different name in each region: Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Yugadi in Karnataka, Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, Vishu in Kerala, Vaisakhi in Punjab, Pana Sankranti in Odisha, Poila Boishakh in West Bengal, Bohag Bihu in Assam. Ugadi and Gudi Padwa fall on 19 March in 2026 and 7 April in 2027.

pib.gov.in ↗utsav.gov.in ↗